Horn headlined the IFC show at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. Facing fellow ex-UFC fighter Sean Salmon, Horn scored a knockdown with a solid uppercut early in the fight. Horn followed Salmon to the mat, delivered more punishment, and then secured the fight-ending rear-naked choke.

The victory – his fifth straight – earned Horn (85-19-5) the IFC’s middleweight belt. Salmon, who went 1-1 in a May WAFC tournament in Russia, falls to 18-11.

Also on the IFC card, Mike Whitehead picked up the organization’s heavyweight belt after outlasting Chase Gormley, a recent UFC fighter who was a late replacement for Jeff Monson.

Whitehead (25-7), fighting for the first time since a December Strikeforce loss to Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, used his wrestling base to score takedowns throughout the fight. That helped him avoid Gormley (7-3) and his heavy hands en route to a fourth-round TKO victory.

In other IFC action, notable Anthony Lapsley (19-4) – a Bellator and EliteXC vet who’s one of the sport’s top middleweights not signed to a major organization – scored a second-round submission victory over Ray Willmington (0-1).

Lapsley is now 7-1 since October 2007.

Meanwhile, in the headliner of Friday’s “XFC 11: The Next Generation” event at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., Miller (14-4) scored a first-round knockout of highly touted featherweight Bruce Connors (8-2).

The victory was Miller’s fourth in five fights. It also marked the first time Connors has been stopped in professional competition.

In the XFC co-headliner, MMA newcomer Marianna Kheyfets (1-0) survived early strikes from Kim Couture (2-3) and then floored her with an overhand right midway through the first round. The knockdown set up an eventual submission victory (via triangle choke) at the 3:06 mark of the opening frame.

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